Education Commons^™

Effects Of Implementing A Formative Assessment Initiative, Thomas A. Stewart

Dissertations

This dissertation supports the work of Black and Wiliam (1998), who demonstrated that when teachers effectively utilize formative assessment strategies, student learning increases significantly. However, the researchers also found a “poverty of practice” among teachers, in that few fully understood how to effectively implement formative assessment in the classroom. This qualitative case study examined a series of voluntary workshops offered at one public middle school designed to address this poverty of practice. Data were gathered via semi-structured interviews. The researcher used constant comparative analysis to discover patterns in the data for the following four research questions: (1) What role did …

Exploring Global Competence With Managers In India, Japan, And The Netherlands: A Qualitative Study, Gerard J.M. Ras

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This qualitative study explores the meaning of global competence for global managers in three different countries. Thirty interviews were conducted with global managers in India, Japan and the Netherlands through Skype, an internet based software. Findings are reported by country in five major categories: country background, personal characteristics, experience in and adaptation to global business, developing global competence, and global competence. Themes were identified per country for each of these five major categories. The study’s findings were compared to the existing literature on global competence. Based on the findings and existing literature the study proposes a model of global competence …

"A Presidential Curriculum: An Examination Of The Relationship Between Higher Education Administration Programs And Preparation Towards The University Presidency.", Sydney Freeman Jr.

Sydney Freeman Jr., PhD, CFD

No abstract provided.

Supporting First Generation College Students, Kelli Hutchens, Matthew Deffendall, Michael Peabody

Kentucky Journal of Higher Education Policy and Practice

Seeking to help support first generation college students (FGCS), the University of Kentucky (UK) has developed new programming and initiatives in recent years aimed at enhancing institutional support for this student group. Among these efforts was the launch in 2009 of the First Scholars program at UK, a project funded by and affiliated with the Suder Foundation, which currently funds five First Scholars programs at universities around the country. This practitioner’s brief first provides an overview of relevant literature related to serving FGCS and then discusses programmatic efforts undertaken at UK designed to improve the retention and graduation rates of …

Teachers With Passion: Teaching In A Distressed Educational Environment, Professor Ben C Osisioma

Prof Ben Chuka Osisioma

Passion is great enthusiasm, very strong emotion, a willingness to sacrifice. Men and women with passion outpace themselves as they go beyond mere talent, to leave their impact on society. Nigerian education needs teachers with passion – men and women with fire in their bones, impatient for lasting and enduring results. Such extra-ordinary pedagogues are people who will give themselves as ministers and missionaries in the temple of education.

The Integrated Basic Education And Skills Training (I-Best) Program: Equiping All Adults For The Global Economy, Robert W. Fox, Mitchell R. Williams

Online Journal for Workforce Education and Development

Abstract

In 2004, educational leaders in Washington State, recognizing the necessity of rapidly equipping adults with career skills, developed the Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) program to meet workforce needs. I-BEST is now operational in all 34 of the State’s community colleges. I-BEST is an instructional method which provides basic skills support to ABE and ESL students while they receive career training. I-BEST uniquely pairs a basic skills instructor with a vocational instructor in the classroom at the same time. Previous research on the I-BEST program has been positive, but it has ignored the pivotal role instructors and …

A Presidential Curriculum: An Examination Of The Relationship Between Higher Education Administration Programs And Preparation Towards The University Presidency (Dissertation), Sydney Freeman Jr.

Sydney Freeman Jr., PhD, CFD

Since the election of the first American college president in 1640—Henry Dunster of Harvard College—the position of president has been one of extreme responsibility and high visibility. There are many questions regarding how best to prepare individuals to attain this role (Chandler, 2006). Individuals come to the presidency from a variety of environments. Some come from corporations, some from governmental settings, and others come through traditional academic venues, having received doctoral degrees in an academic field of study. Recent data from the American Council of Education (2008) reported that over 40% of college and university presidents have earned a doctoral …

The Massachusetts Early Education And Care Professional Development System Study: Year 1 Report, Anne Douglass, Lucinda Heimer, Winifred Hagan

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publication Series

The purpose of this report is to present the findings from the first year of the Massachusetts Professional Development System Study (MA PDS). This study examined the implementation of Massachusetts' new statewide model for professional development of the early education and care and out of school time workforce. The study was funded by the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC).

This study examined the process of implementation of the new professional development system between August 2010 and June 2011. Implementation research is important because it provides insights into whether a new system is operating as intended and identifies …

Book Review Of Global Perspectives On Adult Education, Deborah K. Sterner

Deborah K Sterner

No abstract provided.

Factors Affecting School Administrators Decision To Join And Maintain Membership In A Professional Association, Kelly K. Coash-Johnson

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This paper explored factors that influence school administrator’s decision to join and maintain membership in a professional association. In addition, factors that influence school administrator’s decision not to join a professional association was also explored. The research showed the relationship between, age, gender, dues payment, attitude and importance of benefits. Results from this study will be significant to recruitment and retention for professional educational associations such as the Nebraska Council of School Administrators (NCSA). In addition, information gathered from open-ended questions as well as other survey questions from both members and non-members helped the researcher determine other challenges that have …

The Characteristics Of Learning In Social Movements: A Pilot Study Of An Environmental Organization, Jihyun Kim

Adult Education Research Conference

This qualitative study addresses the distinctive characteristics of learning in social movements in terms of learning content, motivation, format, and outcomes. Based on the researcher’s constructivist stance on knowledge, social movement activists in a currently active local environmental organization, the Protect Elica Island (pseudonym, PEI), were interviewed. The study showed that PEI activists learned skills and knowledge about the movement, as well as suggestions for more successful organization activities. Participants reported learning about the nature of social movement participation from reflection, and the significance of their social movement activities in more passionate, self- directed, self-controlled, and self-rewarding ways than in …

Transitions From Aboriginal-Controlled Post Secondary Institutes To Public Post Secondary Institutions, Frances Hunt-Jinnouchi

Adult Education Research Conference

In spite of the significant strides that have been made in Aboriginal education over the last decade, a gap still exists in the number of Aboriginal students who enter and complete post-secondary education. Through a quantitative, community-based research approach the University of Victoria collaborated with the Indigenous Adult & Higher Learning Association (IAHLA) to gauge the barriers impacting transitions and identify factors contributing to successful transitions between IAHLA to Public Post-Secondary Institutions.

Transformative Learning And The Ecological Crisis: Insights From The Tao Of Liberation, Mark Hathaway

Adult Education Research Conference

The complexity and scale of the ecological crisis poses unique challenges to transformative learning. To address these, The Tao of Liberation (Hathaway & Boff, 2009) offers insights to reconceptualize transformative learning from an ecological perspective, including new ways of framing learning goals, the nature of liberation, and the process of worldviews transformation. The Tao also provides analysis addressing some of the key psychological obstacles impeding transformative learning related to the ecological crisis. Finally, The Tao outlines four “paths to liberation” that suggest concrete processes that can foster integral transformative learning.

Historical Memory And The Construction Of Adult Education Knowledge: The Role Of Selectivity In Majoritarian Narratives, Talmadge C. Guy, Lisa R. Merriweather

Adult Education Research Conference

Adult education historical narratives tend to reflect a majoritarian view in which the theoretical formulations of African American and other persons of color tend to be minimized or forgotten. Drawing on the concept of counter narrative and Ricoeur’s concept of “happy forgetting”, we argue that selectivity in constructing adult education historical knowledge overlooks scholarship in the past 20 years that highlight the theoretical and programmatic contributions to adult education of African American adult educators. We offer two examples for discussion and propose that challenging majoritarian narratives involves conscious and critical reflection on historical method and the re-telling of counter narratives …

Shared Understanding?Cross-Faculty Dialogue On The Challenges And Opportunities In The Emerging Focus On Spirituality, Janet Groen

Adult Education Research Conference

This article presents the voices of six full-team faculty members in the faculties of education and social work within the Canadian university context who are interested in teaching courses that address an aspect of spirituality as part of the core content. Through our dialogue we had the opportunity to explore the hopes and the challenges of striving to be an undivided academic. We explored if and how our interest in integrating spirituality into our teaching practice emerged; how we understood spirituality and how this translated into our course content; and how spirituality was understood and valued by our respective students, …

The Quest For A Better Life In A Better World: The Role Of Adult Education In Advancing Inclusion Of Smgv Learners And Citizens, Andre P. Grace

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper investigates the space of SMGV (sexual minority and gender variant) learners in lifelong learning and constituent adult education from transnational perspectives. It discusses the ongoing fiction of adult education as globally inclusive social education. It highlights the construction of a limited social as adult education is taken up in exclusionary contexts where interest groups frequently marginalize sexual orientation and gender identity as power relationships.

Fiction Writing And Learning For Critical Citizenship:Exploring The Potential Of Reading And Writing Fiction To Foster Democratic Learning Opportunities, Patricia A. Gouthro, Susan M. Holloway, Erin Careless

Adult Education Research Conference

Drawing upon the results of a Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) funded research study, this paper examines connections between lifelong learning, citizenship and fiction writing. Using critical and feminist theoretical perspectives, the paper explores how fiction writing can provide opportunities for adult learning and can address concerns around diversity and inclusion when exploring issues around citizenship.

From Objects To Subjects: Voices, Perspectives, Histories, And Learning In The South Asian American Experience, Edith Gnanadass, Ian Baptiste

Adult Education Research Conference

Using a postcolonial lens, this paper critiques scholarly discourse on the experiences of South Asian Americans (SAAs) in the United States as being too othering and too homogenized. In most of that discourse, SAAs are treated as objects who may only be reactive to dominant society and culture; their racialized experiences are also muted. Treating SAAs as subjects, this paper presents a way to enrich their experiences, paying particular attention to how those experiences have been racialized. Drawing upon, but also critiquing cultural historical activity theory, the paper presents an alternative way to think about and empirically examine learning.

Straddling Federal/Provincial Government Relations: The Work Of Adult Additional Language Education For Immigrants’ Employment Integration, Tara Gibb

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper discusses some early findings from research examining the implementation of adult English-as-an-Additional Language (EAL) education policy in Canada. It examines the challenges adult language educators and language researchers encounter during the implementation of an initiative that straddles two levels of government in the Canadian federal system and is intended to assist new immigrants with settlement and employment integration.

Older Adult Education: A New Site For Colonization?, Brian Findsen

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper argues that conventional older adult education has been captured largely by the white middle class and that social justice imperatives are missing. This form of education has been colonized by a significant minority to the detriment of a liberating agenda for many older adults.

In Conversation With John Ohliger And Ivan Illich—April 8-10, 1978, Jeff Zacharakis

Adult Education Research Conference

In April, 1978, John Ohliger left Madison, Wisconsin, for Cuernavaca, Mexico, to assist Ivan Illich and Valentina Borremans with annotated bibliographies of Illich’s writings. During this trip Ohliger used a tape recorder to audiotape his experience so he could share it with his future wife Christina Wagner upon his return to Wisconsin. These audiotapes are entirely from Ohliger’s point of view. He decided when to turn on the recorder and when to it off. This essay is based almost entirely from these audiotapes, and therefore represents Ohliger’s view of his relationship with Illich, and more importantly it provides a brief …

Cell Phones For College Teaching: A Literature Review, Tenzin Yeshi, Steven D. Aagard

Adult Education Research Conference

Cell phone is the fastest growing technology among young adults. However, cell phones are considered more as a distraction in the classroom than a tool to support college student’s learning. Cell phones can be noisy and distracting, but they can also be an aid to learning (Docksai, 2009). Although cell phone is the most preferred mobile device of college students and its ownership are widespread, cell phones in general are still underappreciated in the college settings. From the literature review, majority supported the use of cell phone to enhance college students’ learning and interaction despite some prevailing limitations.

Vampires And Zombies As Critical Public Pedagogy: Using Horror For Critical Adult Education And Hrd Instruction, Robin Redmon Wright

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper explores the connections among the increasing popularity of Zombie and Vampire films, and the current economic crisis, multi-national corporate abuses, over-consumption, consumerism, and environmental degradation and their effects on adult learners.

Exploring The Social Relations Of Education And Organizing In The Ontario Minimum Wage Campaign1, Sheila Wilmot

Adult Education Research Conference

Many of the workers’ rights activities going on in Canada today form a nexus of education, union-renewal-oriented organizing, and anti-racist social- change initiatives. My dissertation on The Social Organization of the Ontario Minimum Wage Campaign (OMWC) is a case-study exploration of community and union workers’ rights organizing throughout the 2001 to 2007 period of the campaign. For my research I employed Institutional Ethnography (IE) to explicate the social relations of class, race, gender and bureaucracy. In this paper I look primarily at the relationship between labour education and workers-rights organizing goals and activities in the last phase of the campaign.

War Drums: A Retrospective Analysis Of Post 9/11 Media And The Mis-Education Of The American Public, Justin W. Williams, Isabel Araiza, Matthew Eichler

Adult Education Research Conference

This empirical research contributes to the critical analysis of media as a source of information and misinformation for adults; paying specific attention to the institutional nexus of political communication serving as a tool of the structural elite in bolstering an agenda contingent upon a mis-educated populous. The theoretical framework resides within the critical theory of media utilizing the propaganda model as a perspective analysis of the structural components of political communication. It adds to the continued critical analysis of media by scholars who assert that consumers of media are indeed bound to the ideological discourse as participants, and that to …

Transformative Learning Is Not An Add-On – It Is The Essence Of Adult Education, Jacqueline Warrell, Colleen Kawalilak

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper draws on different bodies of literature and explores the potential for transformational learning within the context of graduate student- supervisor relationships. The authors (graduate student and supervisor) respond to the question: How can the student-supervisor relationship inform and foster transformative learning?

Catalysts For Transformative Learning In The Making Of Scientist- Environmentalists: A Consideration Of The Lives Of Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, And David Suzuki1, Pierre Walter

Adult Education Research Conference

This is a study of the role of transformative learning in the lives of three well-known scientist-environmentalists. It identifies catalysts for transformative learning in their life transitions from positivist-scientists to scientist-environmentalists. The paper concludes that transformative learning was not only an individual process, but also that each scientist helped provoke a collective process of transformative learning and social change.

Learning To Lead As Learning To Learn: The Experiences Of Malay Women At Malaysian Public Universities, Norseha Unin, John Dirkx

Adult Education Research Conference

This study examined how Malay women learn to lead within their social context. Two semi-structured interviews were conducted with four deans and two directors from Malaysian public universities. The findings demonstrate the paradoxical contexts that these women faced in learning to lead, and how they learned to navigate the multiple tensions and contradictions they faced in assuming leadership roles. For them, learning to lead is about learning to learn from and through tensions and contradictions. We discuss the implications that the findings hold for conceptions of informal learning, especially as reflected in the social context of women within nonwestern societies.

Contradictions Of Agency, Educational Discourses, And Learner Changes: Mexican Women’S Enactments Of Agency In Family Literacy And Their Community, Blaire Willson Toso

Adult Education Research Conference

This qualitative study explored Latina women’s use of hegemonic mothering and literacy discourses, encountered in an adult education and family literacy program. Findings revealed that participants were simultaneously constrained by and appropriated prevalent discourses to achieve goals or advance ideas that challenged normative views of women. Material and social structures also defined which and how participant goals could be pursued. Examining discourses and learner agency and constraints can assist educators and policy makers in better supporting learners to achieve their goals and to examine how social structures and hegemonic ideas shape learner lives, and expand understandings of discourses and agency.

Culturally Responsive Community Based Financial Literacy Education: Practical Implications From A Mixed Methods Study Of Financial Educators, Elizabeth J. Tisdell, Edward W. Taylor, Karin Sprow

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper provides a summary of findings of a mixed method study of 271 financial literacy educators in community-based programs and offers practical implications for culturally responsive pedagogy.